Mayoralty complex home to unique gravestone museum

By Yoko N. Sari

JAKARTA (JP): Nobody knows the troubles I see; Nobody knows my sorrow

These lines are engraved on the tombstone of Soe Hok Gie, a young student who died while trying to scale the Semeru mountain in Central Java in the 1960's. It is displayed at the Jakarta Cenotaph and Epitaph museum.

Hundreds of other gravestones are scattered around 1.3 hectares of land in the middle of the Central Jakarta Mayoralty complex. The gravestones are part of the collection of the museum which is located on Jl. Tanah Abang I, Central Jakarta.

Local people who visit the museum for the first time might be surprised when they see gravestones as the main focus of the museum. Judging from the name, museum prasasti, they will expect to see ancient inscriptions from the Majapahit or Singasari kingdoms, at least I did.

"Prasasti has a wider definition than just ancient inscriptions. The gravestone is also a prasasti," said Marulak Rolin Manik, the head of the museum.

Manik said the museum used to be a Dutch cemetery, which served as a relocation site for the graves from a cemetery near the New Holland church (currently used as museum Wayang ) in Kota, West Jakarta.

In 1795, a Dutch trade company (VOC) decided to relocate the cemetery to the southern part of Batavia and designated 5.5 hectares of land for cemetery.

In 1969 the city administration made a decision to relocate the cemetery once again because the municipal administration did not want a cemetery in the middle of the city.

"The administration asked the family of the deceased to remove their dead and preserve the gravestones of famous people," Manik said, adding that currently there are no remains in the location.

The city administration then decided to choose the gravestones which best describe the history of this country from the colonial era to the era after independence.

Since Indonesia was colonized by Portugal, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands, there are gravestones of such famous people as the wife of Great Britain's Governor General Raffles and noted Dutch anthropologist Dr. J.L.A. Brandes.

"By displaying the graves we can show the younger generation our history during the colonial era," Manik said, adding that there are also gravestones of noted Indonesian people such as Soe Hok Gie and Miss Riboet, an Indonesian artist of the 1940s and 1950s

Manik explained there are 1,200 gravestones in the museum, in the ground as well as cemented on the wall around the complex. The oldest is a gravestone of Captain Just (1795), a legendary Portuguese sailor known for his bravery.

Manik said the captain's gravestone is very popular among the locals. People visit it to ask for good luck for their businesses while women usually pray that they will soon find Mr. Right.

"When the state lottery SDSB was still allowed, many people visited the graves every night in the hope of getting the exact number to win," Manik said.

At present, the open air museum, the only one in the city, is visited by roughly 1,800 people per month. From the number only 300, mostly foreign tourists, are really interested in the museum. Foreigners spend long hours in the museum, while the rest are school children who come to the museum on school tours.

But the museum has some problems: the environment and the museum layout.

"It seems that the environment, such as the trees, is destroying our collections while the landscape is not appropriate anymore," Manik said.

He explained that tree roots are emerging from the ground and damaging the gravestones, which are in the ground.

The layout of the gravestones makes it difficult for visitors to enjoy them comfortably, especially gravestones which are put on the ground.

"Visitors have to step on other gravestones to see those in the middle. This is not only uncomfortable for the visitors but can damage the gravestones as well," Manik said.

For the first time in 20 years, in an effort to improve the museum's condition, the city administration plans to renovate the museum by changing the trees around the museum and a new design is in the works.